Shingle strip



July 20, 1937. H. G.'GOSLIN 2,087,595

SHINGLE STRIP Filed June 22, 1935 INVENTOR HERBERT G.Gos| n\1 BY m ATTORNEY Patented July 20, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SHINGLE STRIP Application June 22, 1935, Serial No. 27,863

2 Claims. (Cl. 108-?) This invention relates to an improvement in roofingelements and is concerned particularly with an improved form of shingle strip of flexible base material such as the well known type of composition asphalt roofing.

Because of the flexible nature of asphalt composition roofing prepared from a base of fibrous felt, saturated and coated with asphalt, and sur-' faced with mineralgrit, shingle strips cut from such prepared material and laid in overlapping courses require certain minimum amounts of socalled' headlap for a given exposure of each strip to the weather, the exposure itself being also limited, in order to insure adequate protection against leakage. Thus, for example, the well known form of square butt strip shingle when made in a width of 10" cannot be exposed more than 4" to the weather without reducing the headlap to less than 2" and thereby jeopardizing the safety of the roof. Such strips, with a 4" exposure and 2" headlap require 250 square feet of base material to cover 100 square feet of roof or area. Even where such strips are made on a heavier felt base permitting a 5" exposure 5 with a 2" headlap, this form of strip requires 240 square feet of material to cover 100 square feet in area.

A substantial saving of material, for comparable exposure and headlap is obtained when 30 using shingle strips of the type shown in patent to Cumfer No. 1,604,339 wherein the strips are provided with semi-hexagonal tabs spaced from one another by intervening recesses which are complementary in size and shape to the tabs. 35 Shingle strips such as shown in the Cumfer patent when designed to be laid with a 4" exposure and.2" headlap require only 200 square feet of material per square as contrasted with 250 square feet per square in the case of the 40 square butt strips of the same exposure and headlap, In such case, however, there is a substantial part of the roof area that is covered only by a single thickness of material. The hexagonal type of shingle strip has been manufactured in 45 forms which provide a so-called double coverage, that is to' say, when they are laid, there is no part of the roof area which is covered by less than two layers of material. In such forms of the hexagonal strip shingle, this double cover- 50 age construction requires not less than 250 square feet of material to cover 100 square feet of surface.

The principal object of my invention is to provide a form of shingle strip which can be laid 55 so as to furnish the so-called "double coverage effect and yet require a considerable smaller amount of material than in the case of double coverage hexagonal shingle strips heretofore employed. In termsof specific figures it may be stated that a shingle strip constructed according to my invention and dimensioned so as to be laid with a 4" exposure to the weather the double coverage effect can be obtained with the use of 225 square feet of material as contrasted with 250 square feet of material in the case of the common form of hexagonal strip shingle having the same exposure. Thus, the saving in material attained by my invention amounts to 10% of the amount that would ordinarily be required to give the same shown in the drawing and described herein, and

that various forms of the invention may be adopted within the scope of the claims.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 shows one of the shingle strips constructed in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 shows the manner in which the strips of Fig. 1 may be severed from a sheet of base material; and

Fig. 3 illustrates a section of roofing or' other area covered with over-lapping courses of the strips shown in Fig. 1.

As already indicated, the shingle strips of my invention are of the flexible type, and more particularly are severed from a base or parent sheet of prepared roofing as commonly made by saturated bibulous felt, coating the saturated felt base on one or both surfaces with weather protecting coating such as high melting point asphalt, and surfacing the coating at least on the face to be exposed, with crushed mineral grit such as slateor other comminuted material.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the shingle strip of my invention comprises a body portion generally indicated by the numeral III, the end edges H and I 2 thereof extending at an angle of approximately to the longitudinal axis of the strip and being parallel to one another. At

its lower boundary the body portion is formed with spaced tabs l3, II, the tab 13 having the" upper end of its outermost edge l5 spaced from the extremity iii of the strip a distance equal in length to that of the butt edges ll of the tabs, so

as to provide a horizontal edge It at one end of the lower boundary of the body portion. The space intervening between the tabs l3 and I4 is complementary in shape and equal in size to that of the tabs, being defined by the edges l9 and 20 of the tabs l3, M, respectively, and by horizontal edge 2| at the lower boundary of the body portion, in horizontal alignment with and of length equal to the edge l8. It -will be noted that the outermost lateral edge of the tab l4 forms a prolongation of the outermost edge l2 of the body at the corresponding end of the strip.

Along the upper boundary of the body portion are formed tabs or extensions which are so located and dimensioned in relation to the exposure tabs l3, M as to make possible the attainment of the principal objects of the invention hereinabove set forth. Accordingly, said upper boundary is provided with tabs or extensions 30, 3 I, the tab 30 being positioned so as to lie in substantial transverse alignment with the space intervening between the tabs l3 and M on the lower boundary of the strip. The tab 3|, as will be noted, is located at the end of the strip, having its outermost lateral edge 32 formed as a prolongation of the outermost edge |2 of the body portion just as is the outermost edge 22 of the tab l4. Be-

tween the tabs 30 and 3| there is an intervening space 33 which is complementary in size and shape to the tab 30, being defined by the inner edges 34, 35 of the tabs 30, 3|, respectively, and by a horizontal edge 36 at the upper boundary of the body portion. The outer edge 31 of the tab 30 is preferably parallel to the inner edge 35 of the tab 3|, both being preferably parallel to the lateral edges I2 of the strip. The lower extremity of the edge 31 is spaced from the upper extremity of the edge ll of the strip a distance equal to the upper edge 38 of the tab 3|, and said spacing is defined by the edge 31 and the horizontal edge 40, in alignment with the edge 36, at the upper boundary of the body portion.

In the preferred form of the strip as illustrated, the depth or transverse dimension of the tabs 30, 3|, measured at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the strip is preferably approximately onehalf that of the exposure tabs l3, .Hl; while the transverse dimension of the body portion itself, measured from the line of the edges 36, to the line of the edges l8, 2|, is equal to the sum of the transverse dimension of the tabs I3 and 30 (or I4 and 3|).

In Fig. 2 there is illustrated the method by which the shingle strips constructed according to my invention may be out without waste from a continuous web or sheet of prepared composition material. As there illustrated the successive strips are severed from the web, on the bias, by means of a succession of broken lines of severance, alternate ones of which, as designated by the numerals 50, 52 produce the above described formation of the tabs l3, l4 and intervening spaces of two adjacent strips in the sheet, while the intervening lines of severance, as designated by the numerals 5|, 53 produce the formation above described at the upper ends of one of said strips, and complementarily, for the succeeding strip in the sheet.

In Fig. 3 is shown the manner in which the strips are laid in successive overlying courses. It will be noted that these strips are laid in the usual manner with the tabs l3, l4 exposed to the weather, the butt edges ll of the tabs overlying and registering with the horizontal edges acsmoa l8, 2| of the strips in the next underlying course. It will be observed from the contour of the over lapped portion of the strips shown at the upper edge of Fig. 3 in dotted lines, that the extensions 30, 3| are so arranged and located that at no place throughout the covering is there any area of the surface which is covered by less than two thicknesses of material.

I am aware that prior to my invention shingle strips have been made with exposure tabs of semihexagonal form and with tabs or extensions along the upper edge of the strips, such as shown for example in Letters Patents No. 1,473,919 to Abraham, No. 1,445,161 to 0tt and No. 1,773,352 to Finley. I believe however that I am the first to construct shingle strips of such character which can be laid to give the double coverage efiect with as little as 225 square feet of material and yet can be out without waste from the parent sheet.

It will be understood that various modifications may be made in the form of the strip without departing from the principle of the invention. Thus, the angle of inclination of the side edges l5, I9, 20, 22 of the tabs I3, l4 may be varied one way or the other or these edges may take the form of slight curves or other contour without altering the effect of double coverage or affecting the ability to sever the strips from the sheet in the manner shown in Fig. 2, since the severance of the lines such as 50, 52 is quite independent of the severance along lines 5|, 53.

What I claim is:--

1. A roofing element comprising a body portion having a plurality of exposure tabs extending from the lower boundary of said body portion and spaced from one another by spaces complementary in size and shape to said tabs a lateral edge of one of said tabs being formed as a prolongation of one lateral edge of said body portion, an extension formed at one end of the upper boundary of said body portion, said extension being substantially in the form of a parallelogram having one of its sides formed as a prolongation of said one lateral edge of said body portion, another extension formed along the upper boundary of said body portion and. spaced from said first named extension by a space complementary in size and shape to the said second extension, said second extension being spaced from the opposite lateral edge of said body portion by a space corresponding in size and shape to that of said first named extension, the spacing of said extensions being such that they are oifset with respect to the tabs longitudinally of the element a distance sufficient to lie substantially in transverse alignment with the spaces on said lower boundary.

2. A roofing element comprising a body portion having a plurality of exposure tabs of semi-hexagonal configuration, extending from the lower boundary of said body portion and spaced from one another by spaces complementary in size and 

